The Limits of Aesthetic Empiricism

Dorsch, Fabian

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199669639.003.0005

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There are a number of contemporary scholars who believe that the empirical evidence concerning the bases of aesthetic appreciation discussed thus far can be overcome or explained away (Dorsch, 2014;Kieran, 2010Kieran, , 2011Meskin et al, 2013;Nanay, 2017). Furthermore, we might go back to David Hume's "ideal critic," as well as his appeal to the "test of time" (Hume, 1985), as evidence that scepticism regarding our ability to form reliable aesthetic judgements is overblown; that we still regard the Iliad as a masterpiece is some evidence that it really is better than 99% of the literary material produced by human beings over the past 3000 years (at least in the West).…”

Section: Higher-order Evidence Optimism and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an effort to dismiss arguments along the lines of the one offered here, Fabian Dorsch (2014) explicitly considers empirical evidence concerning the grounds of aesthetic appreciation. He presents the following thesis for consideration: Empirical evidence can be sufficient to defeasibly justify sceptical judgements about our capacity to form adequate aesthetic judgements (e.g.…”

Section: Higher-order Evidence Optimism and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…“I am an unreliable critic and should refrain from forming aesthetic judgements”). (Dorsch, 2014, p. 76)Although Dorsch focuses on aesthetic judgement, appreciating or enjoying an aesthetic object is typically taken to be part of, or a form of, judging it (e.g., Olsen, 2014). If this is basically correct, for the purposes of considering Dorsch's argument, we can take aesthetic appreciation to at least be part of, or in certain contexts equivalent to, aesthetic judgement.…”

Section: Higher-order Evidence Optimism and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…“I am an unreliable critic and should refrain from forming aesthetic judgements”). (Dorsch, 2014, p. 76)…”

Section: Higher-order Evidence Optimism and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Perniciousness of Higher-Order Evidence on Aesthetic Appreciation

Sackris

Larsen

2023

Dialogue

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We demonstrate that many philosophers accept the following claim: When an aesthetic object is apprehended correctly, taking pleasure in said object is a reliable sign that the object is aesthetically successful. We undermine this position by showing that what grounds our pleasurable experience is opaque: In many cases, the experienced pleasure is attributable to factors that have little to do with the aesthetic object. The evidence appealed to is a form of Higher-Order Evidence (HOE) and we consider attempts to overcome said evidence. We argue they are unsuccessful. We conclude by considering what this means for our practice of making aesthetic judgements.

show abstract

Section: Higher-order Evidence Optimism and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Higher-order Evidence Optimism and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Higher-order Evidence Optimism and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

“…“I am an unreliable critic and should refrain from forming aesthetic judgements”). (Dorsch, 2014, p. 76)…”

Section: Higher-order Evidence Optimism and Expertisementioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Perniciousness of Higher-Order Evidence on Aesthetic Appreciation

Sackris

Larsen

2023

Dialogue

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Science may be able to tell us something about how we actually experience art, but it cannot tell us how we should conceive and experience art or what makes an artwork good or bad. George Dickie is one critic: “No matter how many data are collected, they still remain descriptions (the is ) and no normative principles (the ought ) can be derived from the descriptions alone” (Dickie , 295; see also Dorsch , 87). So research may tell us that viewers generally prefer the actual Mondrian figures over experimental variations.…”

Section: Criticisms Of Naturalized Aestheticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Engineered Niches and Naturalized Aesthetics

Richards

2017

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent scientific approaches to aesthetics include evolutionary theories about the origin of art behavior, psychological investigations into human aesthetic experience and preferences, and neurophysiological explorations of the mechanisms underlying art experience. Critics of these approaches argue that they are ultimately irrelevant to a philosophical aesthetics because they cannot help us understand the distinctive conceptual basis and normativity of our art experience. This criticism may seem plausible given the piecemeal nature of these scientific approaches, but a more comprehensive naturalistic framework can help us understand the conceptual basis and normativity of art. In particular, the ecology of art, an understanding of how individuals interact within particular environments, can help us understand the engineered art niches in which we create and experience art. Each niche is associated with a particular deme, or set of individuals that interact within that niche, and a set of cognitive, epistemic, and pedagogical technologies that form the conceptual basis of a niche‐dependent normativity. This is to be contrasted with the niche‐independent normativity revealed by many of the scientific approaches. This framework, and the conflicting streams of normativity it reveals, allows us to better understand conflicts in normativity and the implausibility of unequivocal and universal normative principles.

show abstract

The Biology of Art

Richards

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biological accounts of art typically start with evolutionary, psychological or neurobiological theories. These approaches might be able to explain many of the similarities we see in art behaviors within and across human populations, but they don't obviously explain the differences we also see. Nor do they give us guidance on how we should engage with art, or the conceptual basis for art. A more comprehensive framework, based also on the ecology of art and how art behaviors get expressed in engineered niches, can help us better understand the full range of art behaviors, their normativity and conceptual basis.

show abstract

The Limits of Aesthetic Empiricism

Cited by 7 publications

References 27 publications

The Perniciousness of Higher-Order Evidence on Aesthetic Appreciation

The Perniciousness of Higher-Order Evidence on Aesthetic Appreciation

Engineered Niches and Naturalized Aesthetics

The Biology of Art

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About